Williamson v. State

999 So. 2d 1281, 2009 WL 117582
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 20, 2009
Docket2007-KA-01719-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 999 So. 2d 1281 (Williamson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williamson v. State, 999 So. 2d 1281, 2009 WL 117582 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

999 So.2d 1281 (2009)

Timothy B. WILLIAMSON, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2007-KA-01719-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 20, 2009.

Jerry Campbell, Vicksburg, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General By: Ladonna C. Holland, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

KING, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Timothy B. Williamson was convicted of the aggravated assault upon a man in the parking lot of a popular Ridgeland, Mississippi restaurant and bar and was sentenced to twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections with twelve years to serve and five years of post-release supervision.

¶ 2. From this conviction and sentence, Williamson appeals raising two issues for our review:

I. THAT THE DEFENDANT WAS UNFAIRLY SURPRISED AND UNDULY PREJUDICED BY THE STATE'S FAILURE TO DISCLOSE THE NAME OF A WITNESS, JAMES BOYD MCGRAW, WHO WAS OFFERED *1282 BY THE PROSECUTION AT TRIAL
II. THAT THE STATE'S FAILURE TO DISCLOSE THE NAME OF A WITNESS, JAMES BOYD MCGRAW, SUBSTANTIALLY PREJUDICED THE DEFENDANT IN HIS PLEA BARGAIN NEGOTIATIONS

¶ 3. Finding no error in the proceedings below, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 4. Brian Canton was a bartender at The Dock restaurant and bar at the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Ridgeland. On April 12, 2003, he arrived at work to begin an 8:00 p.m. shift. After pulling into the parking lot, he walked around to the passenger side of his truck to retrieve his backpack and a cell phone. At that point he caught sight of someone crouching down near him just looking at him; at trial, he identified the person as the defendant, Williamson. Canton turned back to his truck, closed his door, and hit the key lock. Then he said he heard someone yell and after that things became "fuzzy" because he had been hit in the face by Williamson. "I heard someone yell hey, and then when I came to, I was getting kicked, or felt like I was getting kicked against the tire ... and my head was being pushed into the tire with some blows to my back and neck," Canton said. A patron at a nearby restaurant, James Boyd McGraw, was having dinner with his wife when he observed the altercation. He said he first heard loud talking, then he heard someone say, "Hey m* * * * *f* * * *r what are you doing in my truck.... Are you breaking into my truck[?]" He said the man who was identified as Canton replied that he was not breaking into Williamson's truck, but he was getting something out of his own truck. McGraw, who was an off-duty highway patrol officer, said he never saw Canton in an offensive position; instead, he said Canton was walking backwards with his hands up when Williamson struck Canton. McGraw testified that Canton fell on his back and Williamson continued to strike Canton in the face. At that point McGraw said he told someone to call the police, and he went downstairs with some bouncers to approach the scene. Williamson fled the scene in his truck with a friend, but he was stopped not far from The Dock by a Ridgeland policeman, Joe McNamee, who had heard about the incident, saw blood on Williamson's knuckles, and brought Williamson back to the scene.

¶ 5. As a result of the assault, Canton had to undergo three surgeries to repair his broken nose, which had shifted and caved in. Canton's facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Adair Blackledge, testified about the care Canton needed as a result of the assault. When the doctor first saw Canton, he said that Canton's nose almost formed a C-shaped curve on his face. He said Canton's entire nose was shifted over, and he could not breathe out of one side of his nose. The doctor estimated that he had about a fifteen percent airway. The doctor said Canton also had bone fractures over his cheekbone. Canton's injury required the surgeon to perform rhinoplasty on Canton by re-breaking the nose and shifting it back over to the midline and then reconstructing the inside of Canton's nose. The septum of the nose had to be surgically moved back to the middle. Dr. Blackledge said that the assault knocked out some fragments of bone from Canton's nose which could not be replaced. Dr. Blackledge said that the two surgeries he performed on Canton brought his nose back to about eighty percent of what it was before the assault. The doctor said that Canton would be permanently disfigured and would also continue to have nasal breathing problems.

¶ 6. Williamson admitted that he struck Canton in the face with his fist. His version *1283 of events leading up to the assault differed markedly from that of other witnesses. Williamson, who is from Moselle in Jones County, said he and a group of friends had been fishing at the Reservoir since about 11:00 a.m. and went to the Dock around 7:00 p.m. to eat and drink. He said that as he exited the restaurant around 8:00 p.m. and walked toward his truck, he saw the tool box on the back of his truck open, and he saw a man standing at what he thought was the back of his truck. He said he walked up to the man and said, "hey man what were you doing in my truck[?]" Williamson denied cursing at Canton. Williamson said Canton responded by slamming the door of his truck, which was between them, and saying that he had not been in his "f* * *ing truck," and then Canton pushed him. Williamson said he reacted by hitting Canton once across the bridge of his nose, and then Canton fell to the ground. Williamson denied hitting Canton while Canton was on the ground and said he even tried to assist Canton to his feet.

¶ 7. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of aggravated assault against Williamson, and the court sentenced him to twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with twelve years to serve and five years of post-release supervision. The court denied post-trial motions, and this appeal ensued.

I. THAT THE DEFENDANT WAS UNFAIRLY SURPRISED AND UNDULY PREJUDICED BY THE STATE'S FAILURE TO DISCLOSE THE NAME OF A WITNESS, JAMES BOYD MCGRAW, WHO WAS OFFERED BY THE PROSECUTION AT TRIAL
II. THAT THE STATE'S FAILURE TO DISCLOSE THE NAME OF A WITNESS, JAMES BOYD MCGRAW, SUBSTANTIALLY PREJUDICED THE DEFENDANT IN HIS PLEA BARGAIN NEGOTIATIONS

¶ 8. Both of Williamson's assignments of error center around the fact that witness, James Boyd McGraw, was not disclosed during pretrial discovery. In his brief, Williamson combines his arguments on both points. Therefore, we will discuss them together.

¶ 9. The fact that McGraw had witnessed the crime and had given a statement to the Ridgeland police came to light during the trial. The prosecutor had received testimony from McNamee, the Ridgeland police officer who had investigated the incident. The court then recessed for a break. After the recess, the assistant district attorney advised the court that Officer McNamee had asked him during the recess where was McGraw. After the assistant district attorney told him he did not know who he was talking about, Officer McNamee showed the prosecutor a report that said that after the incident, Canton found out that an off-duty highway patrolman, who was eating at the Island Grill near the Dock, had witnessed the episode. The police in 2003 tracked down McGraw and found that he was on military duty in Iraq. The police contacted McGraw via e-mail and asked if he had any information about the incident. He replied that he witnessed the assault, and he gave a statement via e-mail of what he had observed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
999 So. 2d 1281, 2009 WL 117582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williamson-v-state-missctapp-2009.